Progress Illinois

Welcome to Nixonland. With our nation in two wars and the world financial system on the brink of collapse, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is now spending her time on the stump drudging up tired and misleading questions about Barack Obama's record on abortion.

According to the AP, during a rally in Pennsylvania this weekend, Palin called Barack Obama's votes on abortion while in the Illinois Senate "radical." Emily Douglas of RH Reality Check quotes Palin referring to the Born Alive Protection Act (BAIPA):

"Most troubling though, most troubling even, is that as a state senator, Barack Obama wouldn't even stand up for the rights of infants born alive during an abortion," she said. "These infants, often babies with special needs, they're simply left to die."

Palin seems to have encouraged other conservatives to voice their "concerns" about Obama's record on the "born alive" bills.  Tribune columnist Eric Zorn caught Chicago-area conservative activist Charlie Johnston on local radio last night calling Obama a "monster."

But as we documented in August, the right-wing fury over Obama's BAIPA voting record is overzealous to say the least. To begin with, conservatives' intense focus on this very rare procedure is disproportionate and blatantly political; in 2001, the law of the land already required doctors to provide medical treatment to children born after abortions "who demonstrated viability." These bills had nothing to do with children but were an attempt to broaden the rhetorical definition of abortion so as to complicate the legal underpinnings of Illinois women's protected reproductive rights.

Palin's concerns about Obama's voting history lacks any context, either. Zorn himself knocked down the lies -- promulgated by pro-life wingnut Jill Stanek -- quite substantively:

The history makes it clear that Obama's role in delaying "born-alive" legislation was minor and based on very understandable reservations of many pro abortion rights legislators in Springfield. There is simply no way to paint him as an "extremist" when multiple versions of this same legislation failed in both chambers, often over bi-partisan concerns -- though Jill Stanek is apparently having some success pushing this angle with those who don't have the patience you've had to wade through all the bills and arguments.

Now if Palin wants to talk about radical views, I think it's time she discussed her policy of billing sexual-assault victims for the cost of rape kits and forensic exams.